Smart and Connected Communities- Perspectives for Border Communities

美墨边境地区居住着8000多万人口。两国之间的合作，特别是在交通、商业和环境等具有共同重要性的问题上的合作，对于确保两国的经济繁荣和环境可持续性至关重要。新兴技术和其他创新可以提供智能解决方案，有可能解决边境社区面临的许多挑战，包括基础设施复原力以及粮食、能源和水安全。学术机构、边境社区、私营企业、非政府组织和政府机构需要共同努力，确定共同的技术、水、能源、环境和安全挑战，并在边境两侧探索和测试智能公用事业基础设施解决方案，这是前所未有的需要。该项目汇集了加利福尼亚州、亚利桑那州、新墨西哥州和德克萨斯州的四所公立大学，与墨西哥的四所大学合作，举办了一系列三次研讨会，以促进美墨边境两侧的学术机构、政府机构、非营利组织和行业伙伴之间的合作，开展基础研究，其成果可以造福两国的社区和经济。这些研讨会将促进促进合作、两国研究和开放数据获取所需的想法、伙伴关系和资源，为利用智能技术解决美国和墨西哥地区挑战提供信息。具体而言，拟议的研讨会将支持发起和推进与开发创新解决方案有关的融合、跨学科研究，以应对最紧迫的边境地区挑战：水-能源安全、经济机会、教育、安全、移民和犯罪。此外，研讨会和由此产生的研究活动将促进边界两侧科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）劳动力的发展。最终，这项研究将有助于提高生活在边境地区的人们的生活质量，可能降低能源成本，减少粮食短缺，改善边境安全和商业，并为服务不足的社区提供更好的医疗保健服务。预计联盟项目的数据和研究成果的应用将远远超出边境社区，扩展到具有类似基础设施、环境和社会问题的其他地区。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The U.S.-Mexico border region is home to more than 80 million people. Binational cooperation, especially on issues of shared importance, such as transportation, commerce, and the environment, is vital to ensuring economic prosperity and environmental sustainability in both countries. Emerging technologies and other innovations can offer smart solutions that have the potential to address many of the challenges in border communities including infrastructure resilience, and food, energy, and water security. Never has the need been greater for academic institutions, border communities, private industry, non-governmental, and government agencies to work together to identify common technology, water, energy, environmental, and security challenges, and to explore and test smart utility infrastructure solutions along both sides of the border. This project brings together four public universities in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas in collaboration with four universities in Mexico to conduct a series of three workshops to foster collaboration amongst academic institutions, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and industry partners on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border to pursue fundamental research, the results of which can benefit communities and economies in both countries.The workshops will catalyze the ideas, partnerships, and resources needed to foster collaborative, binational research, and open access to data that will inform solutions to regional U.S. and Mexico challenges that take advantage of smart technology. Specifically, the proposed workshops will support the initiation and advancement of convergent, interdisciplinary research relevant to the development of innovative solutions to the most pressing border-region challenges: water-energy security, economic opportunity, education, security, immigration, and crime. Additionally, the workshops and the research activities that flow from them will promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce development on both sides of the border. Ultimately, the research will contribute to improving quality of life for those who live in the border region by potentially lowering energy costs, reducing food scarcity, improving border safety and commerce, and offering better healthcare access to underserved communities. Application of the data and research results of anticipated Alliance projects is anticipated to extend far beyond border communities to other regions with similar infrastructural, environmental, and social concerns.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.